fLEEt MarItIME

Vol 18, No. 3 – AUTUMN 2022

SHIPPING & FREIGHT NEWSLETTER – Compiled by Howard Knott – howard@fleet.ie

Finnpulp at Rosslare

The Grimaldi Group company Finnlines opened its first Irish service with the departure of the Ro-Ro vessel Finnpulp from Rosslare on Monday 25 July. Scheduled arrival at destination port Zeebrugge was late Tuesday evening.

The 3,260-lane metre vessel has a trailer capacity of 225 unaccompanied units and can accommodate 12 drivers. She will maintain a twice weekly rotation sailing from Rosslare each Monday and Friday. At the terminal in Zeebrugge trailers can be transferred onto the Line’s ‘Biscay’ service providing links to Spain and into the Baltic and Gulf of Finland regions.

Speaking at the announcement of the new service, Antonio Raimo, Line Manager at Finnlines said: “We are delighted to support the growing post-Brexit Irish trade to the Continent and provide transport operators with an important alternative route, which will greatly benefit all stakeholders and

Finnlines launches first Irish service

Killybegs Harbour goes ‘Green’

the Irish economy. Finnlines provides cost-efficient and high frequency liner services to its customers with the lowest CO2 emissions per transported cargo unit,” The ‘Biscay’ service is now operated by a fleet of three brand new hybrid powered vessels which boast the lowest emission levels in the industry.

Grimaldi already operates a similar twice weekly ferry service out of Ringaskiddy to Zeebrugge with one of those rotations calling to Antwerp as well. The company also retains the longstanding Euromed Group of services providing direct links from Ringaskiddy to Scandinavian and Mediterranean destinations while another series of services links Dublin with African destinations. These services carry a mix of container, general and rolling cargo.

The Grimaldi Group is represented in Ireland by Ocean & General Maritime Agencies with offices in Dublin, Cork, and Rosslare.

The opening of the Finnlines service brings to six the number of ferry operators running regular services out of the County Wexford port and is the first-round trip link with the Benelux countries. Its opening follows recent announcements of further developments at and around the port including the establishment of an Offshore Renewable Energy Hub (ORE).

The ORE development is planned to include a purpose-built quay and berth, a 50-acre, on quay storage and pre-construction area and a navigable

channel dredged down to a minimum of 9-metres below chart datum. While these facilities are primarily to support the offshore wind development activity, they will also serve to enable the port to further develop ferry and cruise vessel activities that require the provision of larger and deeper facilities than those already provided at the port.

The Salamanca at Rosslare

Killybegs Bulk Handling

Killybegs Harbour, which is operated by The Department of Agriculture, has introduced a ship-to-shore electric power supply system servicing vessels while they are in port. The installation was partly financed by the Irish Government and the European Maritime & Fisheries Fund and was installed at a cost of €1.7 million.

The installation enables Trawlers and other vessels to power down their diesel-powered generators and the annual CO2 emissions reduction is estimated at 2,000 tonnes. The installation is also credited with a reduction in noise at the harbour along with an improvement of air quality. For vessel owners the use of shore power reduces overall fuel consumption, fire risk and maintenance costs.

Under EU climate change proposals ports throughout the Community will have to introduce shore power facilities within the next five years.

Fish landings at Killybegs have increased from 163,447 tonnes in 2010 to 231,774 tonnes in 2020, a 42% increase, while the value of the fish has increased by 79% to €110.9 million. Work is commencing on the extension of the existing Smooth Point Quay by 120 metres to enable the berthing of more and larger vessels while also meeting the growing demand for cruise Ship berthing.

Also, at the Donegal port, the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation (KFO) has announced that it will become a partner in a two-gigawatt floating wind farm located between 50 and 80 km. off the North West coast. The other partners in the venture are Swedish renewable energy developer, Hexicon, and Sinbad Marine Services. Speaking at the project launch KFO Chief Executive, Sean O’Donoghue said that the plan was to develop Killybegs as a renewable energy hub and generate hydrogen there to fuel the fishing fleet displacing conventional fuels which he expects to be phased out within the next ten to twelve years.

The volume of trailers and containers passing through Dublin Port in the first six months of 2022 increased by 8% year-on-year and stand at 1% below the figures for the same period in 2019. Overall port volumes for the first six months of 2022 grew by 10.1% to 18.6 million gross tonnes while the number of ship arrivals increased by 150 compared to the same period in 2021, to 3,694. Vessel arrivals would have been higher had it not been for the port’s decision to severely limit the number of cruise vessels that it would accept while the current Port re-development works continue. Many of these cruise vessels were serviced by anchoring off Dun Laoghaire with passengers taken ashore at the South Dublin harbour. The number of trailers and containers passing through Dublin Port for the six-month period was 742,000.

Speaking about the figures, Dublin Port’s shortly to retire, CEO Eamonn O’Reilly said: “The first half trading results this year are the first opportunity for us to assess trends in Dublin Port’s volumes after two years of disruption caused by the pandemic and Brexit and what we are seeing is a return of the strong volume growth which has characterised Dublin Port for decades. This is driven by population growth as confirmed in the recent census. More people mean

FLEET MARITIME | 45 Dublin Port Trade volumes driving through pre-covid peak

European Funding for maritime related projects

more trade and more trade means greater volumes through Dublin Port. “While overall port tonnages are 3.7% behind where they were in 2019, the number of containers and trailers passing through Dublin Port is less than one per cent behind. Additionally, bulk commodity imports such as petroleum and animal feed grew strongly in the first six months of the year and are ahead of their 2019 levels by +5.7%. The pattern we saw post-Brexit, where the average cargo load per container and trailer reduced by -4.2%, is now an established reality. It is a permanent inefficiency in logistics supply chains caused by the re-introduction of border controls on imports into Ireland from the UK. This is putting greater pressure on port lands as trade volumes climb back to record levels. We were fortunate that the investments we had been making under Masterplan 2040 in recent years gave Dublin Port the capacity it needed to cater for the large switch in volumes from Great Britain to Continental Europe. We have invested €500 million over the last ten years and will invest a further €500 million in the next five years alone to keep pace with the growth we are anticipating now that the long-run growth trends we have seen over many decades have re-established themselves.”

The tonnage of cargo shipped through the port in Lo-Lo containers was 3.854 million tonnes, a 3.3% drop on the 2021 figure and perhaps reflected the deep-sea traffic flow disruptions experienced during the period with significant port congestion at key locations. It may also reflect the massive increase in vessel charter rates over the last couple of years. The Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) recently reported that a typical charter rate for a vessel suitable for use on Continental Europe/Ireland routes Is now about $40,000 a day. This compares to a 2019 rate for a similar vessel of $7,000 a day. For a typical 45ft container being shipped on Benelux/Ireland routes the share of charter costs would amount to about $400 each way, as against $70, three years ago.

Another clear indication of the shift in Ro-Ro traffic from Ireland/Britain routes to Ireland/Continental Europe ones, has been that Seatruck, P&O and Irish Ferries have each taken a vessel off the central corridor services over late Spring and Summer weekends. In the case of Irish Ferries, it has deployed the Epsilon on its Dublin/Cherbourg route giving a single weekend round-trip. Both Irish Ferries and Stena have taken their southern corridor vessels off those services for extended periods enabling those vessels to cover problems with vessels on other Irish Sea services. Meanwhile, the post-Brexit switching of Ro-Ro traffic destined for or originating from the Northern half of Ireland appears to have tailed off with first quarter 2022 trailer volumes through Northern Ireland ports somewhat lower than the first quarter of 2021.

The Department of Transport announced on 29 June the list on projects supported by the current round of EU Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding. The total value of the EU contribution to the five projects amounts to €13 million.

n Irish Rail has been awarded €2.5 million for supporting studies for the development of a rail freight system connecting Ireland’s busiest seaports and establishing transfer points for freight between rail and road. n Transport Infrastructure Ireland will receive €3.3 million to support the deployment of technology to enhance road safety and traffic management, such as wrong-way driver and advanced warning signs, on the M7/N7 approach to the M50 and around the Jack Lynch Tunnel. n Wexford County Council has been awarded €2.8 million to support its work in the planning and design phase of the N11/N/25 between Oilgate and Rosslare Harbour. State Hildegarde Naughton said: “This funding will help key transport projects which will be of benefit to businesses and communities for years to come. The award of €13 million in funding shows the important role the Irish transport system plays and the support available to building an EU-wide smarter transport system.”

Container train en route to Dublin (Photo: Stephen White)

PORT PORTALS

The European Commission will launch the 2022 Implementation Plan for Motorways of the Sea (MoS) at a Forum being held in Brussels on 16 September. At that event Prof. Kurt Bodewig, the European Coordinator for Motorways of the Sea will outline the detailed implementation plan and the outcomes of two studies commissioned by MoS, one on an analysis of ocean basins and investment needs and one on the priorities for the main pillars of the project. Representatives of DG Move which has overarching responsibility for Transport development within the EU will update the Forum on their work while the full results of the CEF call 2021 for ports and shipping will be announced. The Forum will conclude with a briefing on the funding opportunities in the new Innovation Fund and an overview of the 2022 call.

The MoS project is being closely integrated with the European Transport Network (TEN-T) programme development to enable the smooth flow of both freight and passenger transport throughout the Community including the use of maritime, road and rail modes. The new policies will seek to shift emphasis for the development of major hubs to the more effective development and use of more regional facilities.

Speaking, following the announcement of the takeover of Lucey transport Logistics, DFDS Ireland Managing Director, John Coleman said: “As one of the largest integrated shipping and logistics companies in Europe, DFDS provides vital infrastructure connecting Europe and Turkey. The nature of our business also means that we, in many cases, can offer customers a full complement of road, sea and rail transport.

When it comes to our business in Ireland, we are delighted to offer our customers an extensive service portfolio; from asset-based door-to-door container routes for the ambient, chilled and frozen segments to trailer services and freight management, contract logistics, warehousing and distribution, as well as our own customs clearance service. In January last year, we launched new freight service between Rosslare and Dunkirk, providing customers with a direct link between South-East Ireland and Northern France.

The strategic rationale for the acquisition of Lucey Transport Logistics is to enhance our existing domestic network through the addition of Lucey’s trucking fleet, equipment and warehousing and distribution network which will bring further value to our customer base, both domestic and international.”

Maritime consultants, Drewry, has issued the results of a study into the global container supply situation. The firm stated that the global pool of shipping containers increased by 13% to almost 50 million teu (twenty-foot equivalent) in 2021, which was three times prior growth trend. This reflected lessors and ocean carriers ordering a record number of containers, while retiring fewer ageing units, as congestion across global supply chains meant containers were an estimated 15% to 20% less productive than in pre-Covid-19 times.

Drewry estimates that each container averaged 18.1 lifts in 2021 compared with 19.2 in 2020 and between 19.5 and 20.6 in the 2010s. Moreover, the number of containers per slot of vessel capacity increased by 8% in 2020 when the pandemic started and remained at this level throughout 2021.

Drewry estimates that as many as 6 million teu of surplus containers now exist in the global equipment pool. While large by historic standards, Drewry considers this surplus to be manageable for the industry.

“The delivery schedule of new ships is very strong with slot capacity expected to increase by 3.6 million teu in 2023 and by over 3.9 million teu in 2024,” said Drewry’s head of container equipment research John Fossey. “With new IMO emissions regulations coming into force in January 2023 forcing some ships to sail slower, much of the

surplus equipment currently in service is expected to be absorbed. In addition, there is evidence to suggest that some carriers are planning to have more buffer stock in their equipment pools, while fewer new containers will be built in the next two years.” He expects that new and second-hand container prices will fall over the next two years but will not drop to pre-COVID levels.

Stena Line continues to build its E-Flexer cruise ferry fleet. The line is following up the introduction of three such vessels on its Irish sea routes with two stretched vessels onto its Karlskrona/ Gdynia, Sweden/Poland link. The first of these vessels Stena Estelle is already in service and will be joined by the Stena Ebba in December. The stretched vessels have 50% more cabin capacity, 30% more passengers and 15% more freight space than those currently on the Irish Sea. The E-Flexer ferry fleet is built in China to the order of Stena Ro-Ro. That company leases the vessels to service operators including Stena Line, DFDS and Brittany Ferries. The vessel designs allow for the incorporation of new power sources and engines as technology develops.

Eurotunnel Le Shuttle freight has announced a milestone as its thirty-third millionth truck crossed the Channel aboard its Shuttle on Monday 11 July 2022. Since 1994, more than 700 million tonnes of goods have been transported via the tunnel aboard one of the 15 Truck Shuttles, each 800m long, carrying up to 32 trucks and travelling at a speed of 140km/h for a 35-minute journey. As a true vital link in many supply chains, Eurotunnel Le Shuttle Freight carries 25% of the goods entering the UK thanks to the speed, ease and flexibility of the service with up to 6 departures per hour. Continually innovating to enhance the Short Strait crossing, the Eurotunnel Border Pass service is growing in popularity with more than 40% of the clients using it. The digital wallet makes it possible to exchange information necessary for the passage of goods from the carrier, via digital communications to the authorities of both countries, in a rapid and secure manner.

Commenting on the milestone, Christian Dufermont, Freight Commercial Director at Eurotunnel said: “Since 1994, we have seen a growing appetite for our service and are always looking at ways we continually improve efficiency and speed. It is incredible we have already hit a 33 million milestone and we are looking forward to celebrating our next.”

Tilbury based shipping agency DKt allseas has launched a container shipping service linking the Chinese ports of Ningbo and Dongguan with Liverpool and Greenock. The service uses six vessels with an average container capacity of 1,600 teu giving a China to Liverpool transit time of about 30 days and a service frequency of once every ten days. The new service is being actively supported by Peel Ports, operators of both Liverpool and Greenock Ports and the short transit time and use of less congested ports make it attractive to shippers and importers. The line offers a full range of container specifications including 20ft and 40ft reefer containers. Peel Ports Company, BG Freight currently operates a three times weekly Dublin/Liverpool link acting as a feeder for this and other services through Liverpool. cMa cgM has reduced its freight rate per 40ft container by €750 for all imports from Asia for all its customers in France and also plans to reduce rates for all French exports €100. The reductions follow criticism by Rodolphe Saade, CEO of CMA CGM of a planned move by the French Government to impose windfall taxes on companies with high profits amidst current inflationary pressures.